Just Java™ 2

A Servlet and Its Request/Response

In this section we will present the skeleton of a servlet, and also look at the objects that it uses to learn about a request and send a response. A servlet is just like any other Java program, but one that runs inside a web server engine, termed the “container.”

There are some configurations or conventions that tell the servlet container where your servlet is and what URL should invoke it. The servlet container will call your overriding methods when that URL is requested, and pass in parameters that convey all the information in the form sent from the client browser.

You create your servlet by extending one of the javax.servlet classes, and overriding one or more of the methods in it with your own code. ...